Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Has Anyone Else Noticed This???

Kate's had two teeth come in over the last month. The teething part wasn't too bad, she just needed some Tylenol and a longer nap, but it was enough for me to say we're done breast feeding. However, that means she needs some other form of fluid. We were given several canisters of formula around the time she was born, so we started using it, but as I've been looking around I noticed it's pretty expensive stuff. Now that she's eating solids it made me wonder what the big deal is about cows milk. For those of you who don't know, babies aren't supposed to have cows milk until they're a year old, and it has to be whole milk, according to all your medical standards. Well, formula hasn't been around as long as humans have and I know I saw people giving babies milk in Argentina, so I did some informal research. The reason they're not supposed to have the milk is: first of all the milk proteins and hormones are supposedly too complex for their little bodies to handle and digest well, which may lead to milk sensitivity issues or upset stomachs; second, the lactose in milk is not the best sugar source for them and may also cause sensitivity issues; third, they need more iron in their diet than what cows milk offers. Those were the big points I found. OK, fine, but then I decided to check the ingredients of 3 different brands of formula. The top two ingredients of all three were 1-non-fat milk, and 2-lactose. Uh......huh? So forgive me for going all natural on people and I'm not saying formula companies are evil because a LOT of babies need formula and I've never seen a college entrance exam ask if you were formula or breast-milk fed, I'm just wondering if it's worth paying the extra $10-$20 a week for something that's made from the same milk they say don't feed the kids. She gets enough iron from the rice and oatmeal cereal she eats everyday, at least according to what the box says. This formula/breast milk/cows milk issue is huge for some parents, medical personnel, and mommy magazines, and I don't really care what people choose or think any answer is particularly wrong or right. I don't think any teachers of Kindergarden look at their smartest or most challenged kids and say, "Oh, their parents definately fed them _________." I'm just thinking little Kate might be off the formula as soon as our samples run out. Just some food for thought.

So you really got me thinking on this one. I never really noticed that before. So I went to work and pooled the knowledge of all my doctor friends. Everyone of them said not to feed kids milk. The simple version of their reasoning is that the milk that is used in the formula is partially digested so babys can break it down, not the whole compound. They said that there has been numerous studies proving that baby's can't tolerate/breakdown cows milk before age 1. I'm going to have to trust them I guess on this one. My bank account is definitly not excited about it though.